Democrats criticized the Rell administration for not including $2.7 billion in additional deficits in her proposed two-year spending package that would take effect July 1.

But
Robert L. Genuario
, secretary of the
Office of Policy and Management
, said majority lawmakers have failed to adequately address the billion-dollar shortfall in the current $18 billion budget, having approved only a portion of Rell's recommended adjustments in November and January.

"The projections we have made are based upon the best data that we have available to us," Genuario said, noting that on the 20th of each month OPM revises its estimates of the current deficit.

"I don't want to belabor this because I don't think we're going to get anywhere with it, but I think the primary issue is not '09 but the $2.7 billion difference between you and (the nonpartisan
Office of Fiscal Analysis
) for 2010 and '11," Staples said. "It's just a striking difference when the two offices, usually close together, have a $2.7 billion difference."

Last week, Rell and OPM revised estimates on the current deficit from $922 million to $944 million, but Rell proposed a $1.1-billion adjustment for consideration when the House and Senate meets Wednesday.

Genuario said the big difference between OPM's forecast and the OFA projections is that his office estimates a 20 percent decline in tax revenue and OFA foresees a 35 percent reduction.

"We are in an unusual time," Genuario said of the challenge facing lawmakers crafting the next biennial budget. "We're going to know what the right answer is fairly soon, whether it's 20 percent, 35 percent, or somewhere in between, and somewhere outside the margins. We'll know by April 15."

Staples asked what if the legislature approved a new two-year budget by mid-April, using Genuario's estimates.

"If you adopt a budget before April 15 it will be the first time in my memory that that has happened," said Genuario, a former state senator from Norwalk.

The legislative session runs through June 3, and lawmakers don't usually approve budgets until close to the deadline or afterward in special session.

"You should use numbers you are comfortable with," Genuario said. "We have used numbers that we're comfortable with."

He said the governor and the
General Assembly
will have to work together to craft the final budget.

"Saying you're not encouraging us to hurry up is not consistent with what I hear the governor saying almost on a daily basis as she chastises the legislature for not adopting a budget as soon as possible and suggesting that every delay and every hearing we have is prolonging the agony and worsening the deficit," Staples said. "We're getting mixed messages."

"With all due respect, I think what the governor is talking about when she speaks of delays is action on the deficit mitigation package," Genuario said. "What we have suggested time and time again is early action on the deficit mitigation package."

"Until we some understanding of what the target is, it's going to be very hard for us to do a budget," Staples said.